A Meeting of Like Minds
by veraklon
Summary: [ONE SHOT] Hermione Granger meets a strange woman in a strange place to talk about her world and compare it with someone else's idea of reality. Crossover with Smallville. Was just for fun...


A MEETING OF LIKE MINDS

"Thanks for meeting with me." The blonde-haired young woman smiled as her guest finally arrived. "I wasn't sure that you would agree to this, but I thought it might be kinda fun."

"Fun?" The bushy-haired brunette asked, her eyes widening in obvious surprise. "You think comparing notes is a good idea?"

"Well…sure." She seemed unsure of herself for a moment. "You really think it isn't worth exploring?"

The British woman smiled softly as she finally sat down, setting her book bag on the booth next to her. "I honestly can't say. Things are so dangerous where I am right now… if I do anything that could mess up with the prophecy…"

"Prophecy?"

The brunette nodded as she picked up the menu in front of her. "Oh yeah. Harry can't stand prophecy… has been fighting it his entire life, but it doesn't look like he's going to get out of it."

As the blonde woman pushed her short hair away from her eyes, Hermione Granger sighed. "I'm sorry… you probably don't get a lot about things like that…"

"Oh, I do, actually." She smiled sadly. "Clark has been fighting destiny for so long… I want to help him, but he's so thick-headed some times."

Hermione laughed. "Tell me about it. Boys just won't listen to reason."

Chloe Sullivan leaned back in her seat, taking a moment to sip at the water that she'd ordered before her guest had arrived. "So… I've agreed to your conditions. No tape recorders. Nothing to prove that you were ever here… not that I really understand where here is."

The brunette nodded. "I only heard about this place from a portrait of our former Headmaster. It took a lot of work, but I eventually got a reservation… and here we are."

"But the Restaurant at the End of the Universe? Sounds like a bad title for a cheesy British science fiction novel."

"Hey! Don't knock the British… I am one after all… but it's the only place I thought would be safe enough… and there was no way I was apparating all the way to Kansas."

Chloe smiled mischievously. "Well… here we are now. How do you want to start?"

Hermione shrugged. Chloe waited while the girl sitting across from her quickly ordered something called a butter beer and asked for a bowl of crisps. Once the waiter had left, Chloe shaking her head negatively when he looked at her, the two girls looked at each other.

"I guess you could start off by telling me about Harry Potter."

Hermione nodded. "Only child of James and Lily Potter. A prophecy before he was ever born told that he would be the only person with the chance to defeat the most evil Dark Wizard to ever live. His parents died and he was sent off to live with his aunt's family… sorry bunch of Muggles…"

"Muggles?" Chloe interrupted.

The British girl smiled. "Sorry. Bad habit. Anyone not magical."

"Oh." What could be said to that?

"Anyway," She continued. "Harry has supposedly has the key to defeat Voldemort… that's the dark wizard's name… and he has to face him sooner or later."

Chloe nodded. "Similar, I guess. There was some destiny thing where he was to be the greatest hope the world has ever had. Clark… Clark Kent, he's the only survivor of the planet Krypton. His ship crashed here on Earth, the Kents took him in and raised him. Seems that his extraterrestrial makeup gave him super powers…"

Hermione couldn't stop her jaw from hanging open. "He's an alien?"

"Yep."

"What does he look like?" Is he green and scaly or have tentacles or…?"

Chloe laughed, trying to cover the heat that filled her cheeks. "Oh, no… God, no. He's… well…" She sighed. "He's perfect. Tall with black hair and the deepest green eyes you've ever seen."

At the strange look Hermione was giving her, Chloe stopped and tilted her head. "What?"

"Harry has black hair and green eyes. Granted, he's not tall. Short, actually, but he's well defined and can fly better than anyone."

"He can fly!" Chloe exclaimed, ignoring the questioning looks from patrons sitting near where they were. "Wow. Clark can't do that… I don't think he can, anyway."

"Well… Harry has to use a broom."

Chloe laughed. "I thought only witches flew on brooms. Cats as familiars and all that…"

Hermione shrugged. "Witches and wizards can both use brooms. Harry is actually really good at it." She paused for a moment. "So… does Clark wear glasses?"

"Wow. Left field much?" Chloe grinned. "No. Not glasses… he has perfect vision. Why?"

"Oh. Harry wears glasses."

Sighing, the blonde took another sip from her water. "Well… maybe we should change the focus for a minute. How about this other guy… Ronald, you mentioned in the letter."

The brunette smirked. "Yeah. Ronald Weasley. Harry's best friend. They've been inseparable since they met."

"What's he like?"

"Pretty decent overall. I think he's kind of like the comic relief that every good hero needs."

"Clark had Pete… Pete Ross, for that. I think it broke Clark's heart when Pete left."

Hermione gasped. "His best friend left him?"

Chloe nodded slowly. "I was a difficult thing, Pete's leaving." She looked up and smiled at the girl. "Harry hasn't lost anyone? Recently, that is?"

"Well… his godfather died back in fifth year, so that might count, but he was more the parental figure."

Chloe whispered softly. "Clark lost his adoptive father not too long ago."

Hermione put her hand over the American girl's, a quiet show of support. "How about any mentors? Harry lost his favorite teacher last year."

Chloe chewed at her lower lip as she considered. "Well… there was Professor Fine, but he turned out to be evil…"

"Harry's Potions professor killed Headmaster Dumbledore… the teacher I mentioned." She added at Chloe's questioning look.

"Maybe if you counted Doctor Swann… he helped Clark figure out where he was from and everything. He died very suddenly."

"Another similarity."

"Yeah." Chloe agreed.

They both fell silent as the waiter brought back Hermione's order, a cold mug of an amber liquid in a bottle and a basket of French fries. Once he was gone, Chloe snagged a fry. "I thought you ordered crisps… aren't those chips?"

The girl shrugged as she brushed her curly hair over her shoulder. "Nobody that's not from England ever understands what we're taking about. If I had a knut for every time I had to explain about a loo…"

"How about enemies?" Chloe decided to steer the conversation away from slang terms.

"Well… there's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. His father is a Deatheater… a follower of Voldemort. There's been speculation that the younger one might be a good guy in disguise, but I don't see it."

Chloe nodded. "We have Lex Luthor. He started as Clark's friend, but he's bad news… let me tell you. His father, Lionel, was bad news, too… but things are so gray right now. He could end up being a good guy, though I doubt it."

"Let me guess… they're all about getting close to Clark to learn his secrets."

"Exactly." Chloe confirmed.

Hermione just smiled as she sipped at her bottle. "That's how it is with the Malfoys and Harry."

"What about love interests?" Chloe asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hermione grimaced. "You had to bring that up."

"What?" The blonde asked.

"Its hard to say. Harry pinned after a girl for a while. Cho Chang. Asian and beautiful. It had disaster written all over it."

"Wow." Chloe knew her eyes were wide. "Clark was all over Lana Lang… it worked for a bit, but things never really took off. And she has Oriental features, too."

"Lang and Chang. That's too close to the same for just a coincidence." Hermione sighed. "Let me guess… did an old boyfriend die, too, before Clark and Lana got together?"

"Yes. How did you know? Whitley. Star football player and school hunk."

Hermione shrugged as she ate some of the fries. "Cedric for Cho. He was a star Quidditch player at Hogwarts and the dream for most girls at our school."

"So… if Harry isn't with Cho, who is it right now?"

Hermione stared at the table for a moment. "Right now? Ginny Weasley. She's Ron's little sister. I think they might have called it quits so she'd be safe."

Chloe looked at the other girl. "Clark did that for Lana, as well. I think Clark is over Lana now… he's kinda into Lois Lane now…. she's my cousin."

"So… they're both after relatives of close friends?

She nodded. "Looks that way."

Hermione ate another fry. "And for the finally… let me guess. You're the bright, quirky and intelligent friend that he always runs to when he has a problem to figure out?"

Chloe drank the last of her water. "Yep. You?"

"The same." Hermione took another sip of her butter beer. "Are you secretly in love with him, too?"

Chloe laughed, though there was no humor in it at all. "Yeah. I'm guess you got it pretty bad for Harry?"

She nodded. "Ron liked me for a bit, but the whole settling for the best friend when you want the hero just didn't work."

"Wow." Chloe looked surprised. "I'm glad I didn't try that when Pete revealed he had feelings for me."

Now Hermione looked up, her brown eyes staring into Chloe's blue ones. "Yet another similarity."

"So… what do we do about it?" Chloe finally asked into the silence, she motioned for their waiter to bring her more water.

"I have absolutely no idea." Hermione sighed. "Between all of the prophecy and possessions and other wizards with weird powers after him… it gets too confusion."

"Clark got possessed for a while, too. And don't even get me started on the red meteor rocks. Ugh!"

Hermione smiled. "So… we're both stuck. So much for being to help each other out."

"Guess so."

The British girl ate the last of the fries from the basket. "Is that it, then? Back to our own lives and the insanity that we've been thrown into?"

"I guess so."

Both girls stood then. Chloe watched as Hermione Granger pulled a few golden coins and tossed them on the table. "I got it."

"Thanks." Chloe nodded. The two looked at each other before the embraced quickly, hugging one another tightly. "Good luck."

"You, too, Chloe. I hope he realizes what's right there in front of him."

Silently, they both pulled apart, almost reluctantly. They waited, as instructed, until someone could lead them out of the restaurant… the policy was to not allow you to leave in the same direction as you entered so you wouldn't run into yourself. Chloe and Hermione both walked next to one another, both ignoring the "oohs" and "ahhs" from the other patrons as they watched the universe finally end.

"Time is so tricky… I don't think I could stand it if Clark had to mess with time again."

Hermione looked over where the shorter blonde was walking. "You, too? Clark and I used a Time Turner to go back in time and save his godfather."

Chloe smiled. "Clark did it all on his own… he saved Lana from getting killed in a car crash, but he lost his father instead. Something about an equivalent exchange."

"Equivalent exchange?" Hermione inquired. "Did you talk to Rose, too?"

The blonde laughed. "I did. Another hero and the girls that get caught up in their adventures. Did you learn anything?"

Hermione shrugged. "There were some similarities… magic and such. They even had a Philosopher's Stone, but it wasn't near the same… at least, I pray it wasn't."

"Anyone else I should try and meet? You and Rose were it for me so far."

Chloe watched as Hermione pulled out a parchment from the robe she was wearing and scanned the list. "Well… Buffy Summers is pretty cool, although you might have a better chance with her than I did. She had some hang-ups about British wizards and such. She kept referring me to a man named Rupert Giles, but he's refused all queries. She also asked if I might be interested in a witch named Willow… I think she was trying to set me up with her friend."

"Buffy?" Chloe grinned. "What kind of name is Buffy?"

Hermione shrugged. "With my name, I can't really throw stones, you know?"

Chloe pulled out her palm pilot, taking a moment to copy the names the other girl had provided, as well as to scan some other possibilities she'd picked up. "Well… thanks."

Both girls looked up as a door opened to the side, allowing for both of them to make it to the back parking lot. Chloe chuckled as she watched Hermione reach over and pick up an old boot. "Traveling in style, I see."

Hermione laughed. "It's a portkey. It will… uhm… teleport me to where I want to go. Much quicker than that little car of yours."

"Okay. Okay." Chloe held her hands up in surrender. "Sorry. I was just having some fun with you."

Hermione sniffed. "Well… I guess this is it."

"Yeah. I guess so."

As Chloe started to climb into her Volkswagen Beetle, she called over to where the young witch was standing. "Let me know how things turn out, okay?"

"You, too." Hermione picked up the boot and smiled. "Bye."

With that, Hermione Granger vanished. Now suddenly left alone, Chloe Sullivan climbed into the driver's seat of her car and started the long trek back to Smallville and the smiling face of the man she loved…


End file.
